Unsurprisingly, the board weren't super pleased when Jayden informed them that he was demanding a meeting. He also wasn't shocked to hear that they wouldn't be available to meet with him until after the weekend, but at least that wasn't unreasonable. He was well used to them having busy schedules, and poor Jo-Ann would be the one who had to juggle it all so that he could see them.

He arrived at his mom's by car just before lunchtime on Saturday. This was gonna be the weirdest movie date they'd ever had if he came straight out and accused her of wanting him dead. Bad enough that Lucas was with him.

Not that having Lucas with him was bad. Far from it. The exact opposite, in fact. But to Mom, Lucas was just a bodyguard. A stranger in her home. That'd be weird, right? Would she even let him in?

Unlike Jayden, his mom didn't live in an apartment. Her home was a house, and while it had to be worth a fortune these days, his dad had bought it years before Jayden was even born, back when most people didn't even want to live on the Upper West Side. But he was dead set on a house for his family, so he'd bought one, and it was pure good luck so far as Jayden could see that the area was now so valuable.

Either that or a bunch of rich people bought while the area was poor, then gentrified it to raise their own property values.

He grimaced at the thought, and knocked on the door.

"Does your mom have staff?" Lucas murmured as they waited.

"Not live-in," Jayden answered. "They come during the week to take care of housework. They're not hers, she hires a service," he added.

"I guess it's a big property to take care of," Lucas said.

Jayden raised his eyebrows. Was that Lucas' way of empathizing, or was he adding to the stockpile of evidence either for or against his mom as a killer?

The door pulled wide open, and his mom stood there with a wide smile on her face. She swept forward and flung her arms around Jayden, then crushed him like a bug. "Jayden! You got here just in time! I'm making lasagna!" She kissed his cheek, then pulled back. "Come in, come in! Who's this? You must be the bodyguard?"

Jayden coughed as she released him, and stepped inside. "Yeah. Mom, this is Lucas. Lucas, this is my mom."

Lucas came inside and took her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Deus."

"Helena," she corrected him. "You hungry? I made enough lasagna for us all."

"Helena," Lucas chuckled. "I'm always hungry, and I'd be honored to join you for lunch."

"I haven't poisoned it, I promise!" She turned away and beckoned for them to follow as she led through the huge house toward her kitchen.

Jayden shot Lucas a look as if to dare Lucas to consider that as evidence of anything, but Lucas only smiled slightly and waited to follow after him.

The house hadn't changed. Jayden figured there was no reason for it to have. Mom wasn't one of those people who chased home furnishing trends, so it only got a makeover maybe once a decade, and even that was just to refresh walls or replace anything that was damaged. So far as she'd always been concerned, a house was a place you slept and ate in, not a prison for you to constantly slave away in.

He looked around as they wandered through the hall. There were still pictures of Dad up, pictures of them on vacation together when Jayden was little, or pictures of Dad receiving awards. The photo of Jayden being handed his master’s certificate had pride of place.

He sighed. He really should have gone back for his PhD, but hadn't seen the point. Maybe he could do it sometime in the future, once his life settled down.

The kitchen was huge. Bright, airy, with enough space to host a dinner party for twelve at the huge table. His mom had cut back on those completely since Dad died, though. Now the space was just empty, wasted, and not for the first time he considered whether it might suit Mom better to sell the place and downsize. There were so many memories here, though. He wouldn't blame her if she didn't want to.

She ushered him and Lucas into chairs at the table, which she'd already set for two but quickly set a third place for Lucas once he'd sat down. Then she fetched glasses of water before she returned to the oven and took the lasagna out.

God, but it smelled amazing.

Jayden was a sucker for his mom's cooking. They were simple recipes, but done right, and no restaurant could ever beat them.

Minutes later, lasagna was served, and a bowl of salad had been brought from the fridge to the table. Mom sat with them and urged them to help themselves to salad, then gestured to Jayden. "Now," she said. "Tell me about these death threats."

Jayden heaped some salad onto his plate, then picked up his knife and fork. "It started with this letter," he began.

Between them, he and Lucas managed to fill his mom in without losing any detail, taking turns so one could eat while the other spoke, until she was all caught up.

"What I don't get," she finally said, "is why anyone would do this."

Jayden swallowed tightly.

"We're trying to work that out, too," Lucas said calmly. "So far as we can see, the only people who might benefit from your son's death are the board of Deus Pharmaceuticals, and yourself."

His mom blinked at Lucas, then gasped. "Oh, you mean for the shares?"

"He didn't mean it like that, Mom," Jayden coughed.

"Oh, don't be silly," his mom chided. "You're absolutely right to consider every possible option. Frankly I'm amazed I haven't heard from the NYPD yet. They are on the case, aren't they?"

"They are," Lucas assured her.

"All right. So let's look this over properly. If Jayden were killed, I'd get the shares my husband left to him, but I'd lose my son, and he's all I have." She tapped the hilt of her knife thoughtfully against the tablecloth. "No amount of money is ever worth a life."

Jayden grabbed his water and gulped it down.

"Not everyone thinks that way, Helena."

"No," she agreed. "Otherwise Jayden wouldn't need protection to begin with." Her gaze hardened and she set her cutlery down. "I don't know," she sighed. "I love my son. What mother could even consider harming their own child?"

"No offence intended," Lucas murmured.

Jayden put his glass down and reached for his mom's hand. She gripped his fingers tightly, the only outward sign that she was way more distressed than she was letting on.

"None taken," his mom replied to Lucas. "Do you know how hard it is to hear from news stories that someone tried to kill your only child?"

"Mom," Jayden breathed. "I'm okay."

"I don't know," Lucas said gently. "I can't begin to imagine the strength it takes to be in your position."

Jayden blinked.

Damn, Lucas ought to be a politician. Had he handled Jayden this meticulously? Was this compassion, or was it manipulative, designed to keep Helena calm and rational?

Was there really a difference?

Her fingers loosened against his, and she sighed again. "I don't want to hear he's been killed. Not from you, not from the police, and absolutely not from the damn Wall Street Journal. Is that clear?"

"Absolutely." Lucas's lips took on his subtle almost-smile.

"All right." She released Jayden's hand and patted it, then gestured to his plate. "Eat up, or you'll never stop being such a skinny little thing!"

"Mom!"

They laughed, and the mood around the table lifted as his mom moved on to talk about what movies they might want to watch after lunch.

"There's no way she tried to have me killed," Jayden said once they were safely back in the car.

They'd spent six hours at his mom's. Watched two entire movies. Eaten some ice cream. Talked about Jayden's lack of progress with his attorney. She fussed over him, made him cocoa, and sent him on his way with a box of freshly baked cookies which were still warm in his hands.

Lucas checked his seatbelt as the car pulled away, then nodded. "I agree."

"You do?" He'd half expected a fight about this. It wasn't easy to prove a negative, so proving through conversation alone that his mom definitely hadn't hired a killer was supposed to be an uphill battle, but Lucas was taking it surprisingly easily.

Lucas chuckled. "You don't see the way she looks at you, Jayden. That woman loves you with all her heart. It's not just cookies or cocoa. It's something that can't be faked."

Jayden frowned at that. "Then how come people fall for con artists all the time?"

"Two reasons, really. First, con artists are often sociopaths, which means they can lie so well that they almost believe it themselves. Second, most people aren't trained to spot a liar. The body makes involuntary decisions-"

"Right," Jayden said. "The autonomic nervous system."

"Exactly." Lucas pointed toward his own eye. "You can't control the dilation of your iris. You can't control your own sweat glands. You can't control blood flow to the surface of your skin." He tapped his cheek. "You can't control whether the hairs on your arms stand up or lie flat. Lying causes stress. Stress makes your body do things you can't consciously control."

Jayden nodded as he listened. "You're telling me you're a human lie detector?"

Lucas shrugged. "I have to be. I have to know through posture, eye movements, gait, and other indicators whether or not someone in a crowd intends a client harm. I watch everyone, Jayden, because your life depends on it."

Was that hot? Jayden eyed him and tried to weight up whether it was, 'cause knowing that Lucas was alert every second of every day just to protect him?

Yeah. It was pretty hot.

Lucas chuckled and shook his head. "So if it's not your mom, we can focus on the board. And while I'm usually reluctant to suggest this sort of thing, I do wonder if maybe we should poke the bear before we meet them."

Jayden felt his cheeks flush, and cursed his autonomic nervous system for the betrayal. "Like, do what exactly? Float my shares on the open market or something?"

"I think if you do that, you can't undo it, right? You lose the shares." At Jayden's nod, Lucas continued. "Something less destructive, then. I think just forcing a board meeting might actually rile whoever it is, but..." He trailed off. "What if it's more than the power and the shares?"

"More than that?" Jayden laughed. "Shit, that isn't enough?"

Lucas shrugged at him. "You're out, right?"

Jayden sucked in air and leaned back against his seat.

Lucas' question was enough to make him recall how his dad had bluntly outed him to the entire board before he'd died. The way they treated him after, especially since Dad's death.

He hated to even think about it, but Lucas had a point. That board was a bunch of homophobic guys, and maybe this wasn't anything to do with Lucas' shares, or the threat of him returning to the company at all.

Maybe it was all just because he was gay.

He felt sick to his gut. This was New York, for crying out loud.

Yeah. New York. Where femme guys could still get their teeth knocked out if they went to the wrong bar at the wrong time of day. Or, hell, even if they were at the right bar, and the wrong straight guy turned up and took offence at how much he liked a dude. This city wasn't all roses for anyone. Not for the LGBTQ community, not for the people of color, not for the poor. It had been gentrified since the bad old days, but it was just a veneer, and every last guy on the board of directors was from another time, when you could put your hand on your secretary's ass or refuse to hire someone just because they were gay or black.

He swallowed and turned toward Lucas. "Yeah," he said thickly. "I am."

"Then let's poke that bear," Lucas said, dark eyes alight with mischief.

It wasn't a look Jayden was used to on Lucas' face, and he was intrigued. "What're you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting," Lucas said calmly, "that we go on a date."

Jayden's heart thudded, and before he could even work out why or how or when, his mouth had already leaped into action.

"Yes," he breathed.